There are some professionals in the business where I feel like I have known based on reading their professional blogs. These are individuals who have thousands of people following them on Twitter, speak all over the world, and have written several books that are well recognized in the field. These professionals are truly amazing and inspiring.
However, when you hear that two of them are going to be at the conference you are going to – you are like, oh my goodness! That’s too fabulous! I was really excited and felt that it was going to be a very educational and really exciting few days to listen, take notes, and incorporate these insights both in teaching and in practice.
I was in Morgantown this past weekend for the Integrate Conference, and I had a chance to hear some amazing speakers. These are truly the leaders in their industry and the fact they were willing to share this with all of us was truly amazing. I am really excited to be sharing these insights not only with my fellow PR professors, but also colleagues. The two colleagues I am talking about are Gini Dietrich and Lee Odden.
Both professionals are very well respected and both were coming to the Integrate Conference. I was very excited since I always recommend their blogs to my students in all of my classes. Both Lee and Gini did exceptional with their presentations – they were energetic, professionally done, and full of valuable insights and trends to note. Here were some other takeaways from both of these presentations:
- Lee and Gini were exactly how they appear online in person: This was so refreshing to see – it was wonderful to see their voice, point of view, and ideas come alive in the presentation. There are people out there that are different online and offline, but Lee and Gini were just like how they were online: professional, personable, and memorable.
- Always learning and being a student of life: I think what is inspiring to see from both professionals is their role as a professional – they are always actively engaged with the content as well as being willing to learn and share these findings with others. This is really great and I wish more would follow their footsteps.
- Generous with insights, experiences, and trends: Information is key nowadays – whether it is related to technology or even emerging trends in the industry. I was extremely impressed with how engaged and generous both Lee and Gini were with their presentations. Whether it was sharing via Slideshare or pointing them to the direction of good tools and services – they both did them all. This is very valuable for us as professors so we can share these with our own colleagues as well as with our students. Thank you. 🙂
- Sharing their persona: I think both Gini and Lee are great and they were very transparent in sharing their likes and stories with the audience. I really liked the analogies Gini used when it comes to looking at new trends and PR to a marathon and Lee sharing his own personal experience as a small business owner, and his vice being bacon and coffee. Coffee is mine, so it’s good to know there are fellow professionals out there like me! 🙂
Thanks to both Gini and Lee for not only taking the time to chat with me briefly at the Integrate Conference, but also bringing the conference online. For those of you who haven’t seen their blogs (Gini and Lee)– make sure to 1) bookmark them 2) save and share them and 3) read and start a dialogue with your community and with them. Keep up the great work, Gini and Lee! Let’s definitely stay in touch! 🙂
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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